


sign of the times

by kingdomdizzy



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, I listened to this song and got big sad soriku feels so here we go, KH3 spoilers, M/M, Sad, Songfic, That's really it, up until everyone gets taken by the shadow tornado, ya like angst?, you'll get it when you get there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-12 15:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19135276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingdomdizzy/pseuds/kingdomdizzy
Summary: welcome to the final showhope you're wearing your best clothes(based on the song 'sign of the times' by harry styles)





	sign of the times

**Author's Note:**

> i would suggest listening to the song either before or while reading to get the mood i was goin for from it. but you don't have to, live ur dreams

_Just stop your crying  
It's a sign of the times_

"Sora!"

Riku shouted his name until the dust from the swirling air coated his throat. Riku yelled his name until the sound of his own voice couldn't be heard through the whipping winds. Riku screamed desperately for him, slashing and thrashing his keyblade blindly in hopes of making the sky clear just for a second, a spare moment so that he might see his best friend safe on the ground. 

It all had been a blur; he was crying, broken, falling to pieces right in front of him as all their other friends were ripped away from him. From them. Riku couldn’t comfort him, what could have been said? Instead, he told him the truth.

_“Sora, you don’t believe that. I know you don’t.”_

When the darkness started eating away at his body, he thought that was it. As Riku opened his eyes, he found that there was still a hope of getting him back, a hope of fixing it. A small sliver of a chance that Sora could smile again. 

Finally, with a flash of blinding white-hot light, he was on the ground. The darkness had gone away, all the winds had stopped. There was only silence as Riku picked himself up off the ground, frantically looking around for Sora, alive.

Tears welled in his eyes when he saw him, laying on the dusty ground, and he ran to him.

_Welcome to the final show  
Hope you're wearing your best clothes_

“Sora!” Riku shouted, sliding his knees onto the dirt next to his body and shaking his shoulders. “Sora, wake up, we won! You did it!”

This final battle, the clash they had been training for, was finally over. Riku felt a tear of relief fall down his dusty face. His smile was covering the ache he felt over his whole body. It was over, he thought. _Over._

“Sora,” he repeated, still shaking him. His clothes were dirty and ripped in some areas. His jacket was falling off his shoulder more and more as Riku shook him. His gloved hands moved limply at his side. His eyes, so bright they could light the canyon, remained closed. “Now is not a time for a nap,” he teased, hoping a smile would crack and he would laugh himself awake.

“Riku.”

He looked up. 

_You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky_  
_You look pretty good down here_  
_But you ain't really good_

All around him, his friends had come back from the same darkness that had swallowed him. They were all dirty and torn and exhausted, but even more than that they looked sad. Riku wondered why. Why? They had just won. Sora had saved them from being consumed forever. Sora had defeated it. 

Riku looked back down at him. He couldn’t shake how… _peaceful_ he looked. Just like he had when Riku found him asleep with Naminé in Castle Oblivion what felt like forever ago. Just like he had when he swept down from the sky into the Realm of Darkness after Riku had called his name… so at rest. 

Riku’s smile faltered. Peaceful. At rest. 

“Riku.” 

It was Kairi who said it, her dress torn, face covered in dust and scars. Her eyes were holding back tears as she rested her hand on his shoulder. A tingle of pain ran through his arm, but nothing compared to the ache that began filling his chest. Slowly, he shook his head at her. _No_ , he wanted to say, _please_. But his throat was closed, his lungs burned from not being able to breathe.

_We never learn, we've been here before_  
_Why are we always stuck and running from_  
_The bullets, the bullets?_

“He did all that he needed to do,” she said, eyes unwavering from Riku’s. “He did it. The light is safe.”

_We never learn, we've been here before_  
_Why are we always stuck and running from_  
_Your bullets, the bullets?_

Riku’s mind swirled like the vortex of darkness. He turned back to Sora on the ground, stagnant with only his soft strands of hair moving in the wind. Kairi’s hand fell away from his shoulder when he moved closer to him, picking up the wilting body in his arms and choking at the residual warmth he could feel. 

“Sora…” he murmured, just like he had in the darkness, only this time he couldn’t come to the rescue. This time, Riku was alone. 

_Just stop your crying  
It's a sign of the times_

His voice found itself. It wasn’t a whimper or a cry or even a sob; it came out as a scream, a guttural and crippling sound that rang out through the whole canyon. Sora’s head lulled in his arms, and Riku buried his head in his best friend’s still, silent chest. _Please,_ he thought, still hearing his voice echo around him. _A beat, a sound, anything._

_We gotta get away from here  
We gotta get away from here_

Whether it had been seconds, minutes, Riku could have waited there for Sora to return for years. Eventually, Kairi’s hand fell on his shoulder. 

“We gotta get away from here,” she said, sadness gripping her voice. 

That’s when he realized how selfish he was being. All these people around him had been touched by Sora, too. Some of them had even been a part of Sora, holding a spot in his heart and keeping them safe for a long time. He lifted his head and looked around at all the faces, all of them holding back tears, and heard the thunder rumble in the distance. 

There was a storm coming, one that would wash them all away. Riku smelled the air; it was dusty and rotten, but in the distance, there was a foul scent Riku couldn’t mistake: darkness. 

“We gotta get away from here,” Kairi repeated. The tears she had been holding back were now falling like rivers down her dust stained cheeks. 

_Just stop your crying  
It'll be alright_

Riku didn’t realize how hard he had been clinging to Sora’s body until he relaxed his grip, bringing all the aches and pains from the fight through his muscles. Kairi tried to ease him away, pulling gently on his arms towards the others, urging him to let go.

_They told me that the end is near  
We gotta get away from here_

He could hear them, talking quickly about the fast approaching storm that would wipe this world away. _The end,_ they said. Kingdom Hearts would swallow this world as it was consumed by darkness, and if they didn’t leave…

_Just stop your crying  
Have the time of your life_

That’s when the tears started to fall. Riku looked down at Sora again, pulling him close to keep the rich color of his skin, when he saw the light. It started at Sora’s feet, forming crystals that nearly blinded him at first glance. Behind him, Kairi gasped. Another clap of thunder resonated around the canyon. 

_Breaking through the atmosphere  
And things are pretty good from here_

The crystals crept up his legs, growing with each new advance. Riku could feel the icy temperature radiate off of them, but he didn’t move. Everyone behind him was shouting over the sound of the storm, over the sound of his ears ringing, but he didn’t move. The crystals reached his torso, and he didn’t move.

_Remember, everything will be alright_

If this was the end, if this was how the world would disappear, Riku didn’t want to move. As the crystals reached Sora’s neck and the cold was unbearable in his arms, Riku pulled him closer into his chest, crushing the ice underneath his grasp, and Sora’s head fell into Riku’s neck. 

_We can meet again somewhere_

The cold became numbing, and the light made Riku closed his eyes. He kept thinking about Sora, everything about Sora: his eyes, his smile, his hair, his constant unwavering happy disposition that could only be swayed by the one thing that took him forever, the loss of his friends. 

He heard everyone call out his name, but they sounded so… far away. Each time he heard his name, he could only think of Sora, how he wished it was him. Only him.

“Riku…”

Every memory, every moment they had shared together, swelled through his mind. The pounding in his head was unbearable. His name being called faded out to static, except for once voice still whispering from somewhere. Not quite here, but not far.

“Riku?”

No… it couldn’t have been…

“Sora?”

_Somewhere far away from here_

The ocean opened in front of Riku. The wind rustled through the leaves of the paopu tree he found himself leaning against, bringing about the smell of the ocean he missed every day he traveled away from home. Sunset colors painted the sky, just as they had the night before.

“Huh,” he sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as the sun descended into the horizon. “What a small world.”

“But part of one that’s much bigger, remember?”

Riku snapped his head back, finding Sora sitting on the tree like he had so many times from when they were children until everything began on that night of fate… Riku shivered at the thought. Sora stared out at the water, feet swinging idly and head swaying slowly side to side like nothing was wrong in the worlds. 

“S-Sora,” Riku muttered, still trying to comprehend what he was seeing. “Wha… what are you—”

“You remember when we found our way to the realm of darkness together?”

 _How could he forget?_ “Of course.”

The smile on his face spread. “We thought that was the end of the road, but…” he looked down at Riku, the light reflecting from the water rippled through his eyes. “I think this might be it.”

Riku tried to say something, but it felt as though he had swallowed sand. 

_We never learn, we've been here before_  
_Why are we always stuck and running from_  
_The bullets, the bullets?_

Sora sighed and jumped off of the tree. “I never stopped hearing your voice, Riku.” He walked past him, still trying to form a coherent sentence, to the edge of the small island. “I knew… I knew what I was doing. And… I knew that you might be angry or upset but…”

He turned around, the sun illuminating his silhouette. He looked ethereal, surreal. Like a figment of Riku’s imagination. Maybe that’s what this whole thing was, all in Riku’s head. But no… he’d been here before. The warmth of the sun felt too perfect, the wind was just right, and the sound of the waves…

“This…” Riku choked, “is your heart?”

Sora nodded slowly. “It’s always belonged to you.”

_Stop your crying_  
_Baby, it'll be alright_  
_They told me that the end is near_  
_We gotta get away from here_

Riku’s sobs racked his whole body, unable to get his breathing to catch up with the air he was releasing. Hot tears made his cheeks feel sticky. His eyes stung like they had so many times when they had gone swimming in the ocean together. Sora’s hand, warm and calloused, found his face, cradling it gently as Riku’s chest began to normalize.

“Sora,” he whimpered, another spasm flashing through his lungs.

“Hey,” Sora shushed, giving him a sad smile. “I’ll always be with you, no matter where you are. You honestly think you could get rid of me that easily?” 

Riku laughed, quickly wiping at his tears but careful not to move Sora’s hand from his face. It was too warm, too real, he could have stayed like this forever. He looked at Sora again, wanting to capture his smile, but saw the sunset appearing through him, peaking past his fading body.

_We don't talk enough_  
_We should open up_  
_Before it's all too much_

“Sora,” he said, desperately grasping at the hand on his face that was steadily disappearing. “Sora, there’s so much I never told you. I’m so sorry for all of this. This… it’s my fault. All of it. And I…”

“Because of you,” Sora took a step forward, “so many worlds are still alive, in the light. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know where we would be. Riku, you are the light’s protector. You can keep it safe.”

_Will we ever learn?_  
_We've been here before_  
_It's just what we know_

“I can’t do this without you.” He was nearly completely gone now, only his eyes remaining with their vibrant color and the warmth of his hand. 

One last time, Sora smiled. “C’mon Riku, I thought you were stronger than that.”

In desperation, Riku reached forward and pulled Sora’s face to his. 

_Stop your crying, baby  
It's a sign of the times_

But there was nothing there. Riku’s hands dropped to his sides, staring out into the sea as the sun fully disappeared beneath the waves. Tears stopped falling. Riku leaned back against the paopu tree.

_We gotta get away_

Sora was gone. 

_We got to get away_

Everything began to glow, engulfing Riku in a warm light. He could hear everyone still calling his name, begging him to wake up so they could get out of there. Get away. 

But he would never leave. A piece of him would always be with Sora, wherever his heart was.

And that’s how it’s always been.

**Author's Note:**

> hi uh i recently made a twitter (@/kingdomdizzy) so if u like my work you can follow me and watch me spiral thru insanity every single day  
> thank u for reading i hope you enjoyed :) x


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